China eyes bigger global role with Chinese solutions

China on Sunday pledged to play a bigger role in international affairs while stressing its commitment to peace and justice by advancing win-win cooperation and common development.[Special coverage]

Foreign Minister Wang Yi highlighted old Chinese wisdom and modern approaches in the country's diplomacy at a press conference on the sidelines of the national legislature annual session.

The top Chinese diplomat took an array of questions on subjects ranging from China's relations with the United States and Russia, to a military parade it will stage to mark the victory in World War II and the situation on the Korean Peninsula and warring northern Myanmar.

PARTNERSHIP, NOT ALLIANCE

The minister said China's diplomacy in 2015, with two main themes of peace and development, will focus on making progress in the "Belt and Road" infrastructure initiatives.

China has said on many occasions that the initiatives, proposed by President Xi Jinping to upgrade cooperation between countries in Asia, Europe and Africa, are not exclusive and not a tool of geopolitics like the Marshall Plan.

Wang turned to a musical metaphor, "The initiatives are not a solo for China, but a symphony performed by all the countries involved."

The hallmark of Chinese diplomacy with major countries is win-win cooperation, he said.

It includes upholding an independent foreign policy of peace and equality among all countries, he said, adding that these ideas originate from Chinese traditions and reflect the socialist principle.

He said China is blazing a new diplomatic path of "making partners rather than allies."

China has established formal economic partnerships with more than 70 countries and many regional organizations.

While advocating that the current international order needs to be updated, Wang said his country has "no intention of overturning it or starting all over again," 70 years after the end of WWII and the founding of the United Nations.

"It is very important to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of developing countries which are in the majority of the world," he said.

The minister promised to work with other countries to increase cooperation in combating cross-border corruption, an extension of the anti-graft declaration adopted during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meetings last year in Beijing.

MICROSCOPE, TELESCOPE

On relations between China and the United States, Wang said the world's two biggest economies should not "magnify problems through a microscope," but instead "use a telescope to look ahead to the future."

He said that President Xi's scheduled visit to the United States in September will inject "new momentum" into one of the world's most important partnerships.